On September 16 at 6 p.m., the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra will open its 143rd concert season. Under the leadership of the artistic director Guntis Kuzma on the stage of Liepaja Concert Hall "Lielais dzintars" the orchestra will meet one of the most brilliant musicians in the world of pianism - the Czech pianist Lukáš Vondráček. The concert program includes the music of Rachmaninov, Lutoslavsky and Engelman.
At the opening concert of the 143rd concert season, the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Guntis Kuzma will take the audience on an emotional journey from darkness to light, from despair to hope: the triumph over psychological crisis experienced by himself and the return to artistic endeavour is the theme of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.2.
The music is expressive and passionate, sophisticated and poetic, and the Piano Concerto No.2 is one of composer's most popular works full of memorable melodies and grand orchestration.
The special guest of the opening concert of the season is going to be the Czech pianist Lukáš Vondráček. “The Boston Globe” paper wrote rave reviews of his performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in cooperation with the Boston Symphony Orchestra last year: “His performance stood out for its sparkling, light passages and command of the work's dark, rhetorical drama.”
At the age of four Lukáš Vondráček made his first public appearance. As a fifteen-year-old in 2002 he made his debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy which was followed by a major US tour in 2003. His natural and assured musicality and remarkable technique have long marked him out as a gifted and mature musician. He has achieved worldwide recognition by receiving many international awards, foremost the Grand Prix at the 2016 Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels alongside first prizes at the Hilton Head and San Marino International Piano Competitions and Unisa International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa, as well as the Raymond E. Buck Jury Discretionary Award at the 2009 International Van Cliburn Piano Competition.
The concert programme also features the Concerto for Orchestra by the Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski.
Mr.Lutoslawski is one of the most prominent European composers of the 20th century, and also one of the most influential Polish musicians. He has received countless awards, including Poland's highest award, the Order of the White Eagle.
Along with the two foreign greats, the programme will feature the prominent Liepāja cultural worker and composer Agris Engelmanis, whose choral songs have been performed numerous times at the Nationwide Latvian Song Festival, while his music composed for the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra was also played at the Liepāja Concert Hall “Great Amber” opening concert on 6 November 2015.
Tickets for the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra concerts can be purchased at “Biļešu paradīze” ticket offices.
The Concert is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the State Cultural Capital Foundation and Liepāja City.
